Native Instruments Kontakt 5.0 Application Reference

Application Reference

Disclaimer

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments.

“Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trademarks of Native Instruments GmbH.

Mac, Mac OS, GarageBand, Logic, iTunes and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

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All other trade marks are the property of their respective owners and use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Document authored by: Native Instruments

Document version: 1.0 (06/2011)

Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in making this a better product.

Contact

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Native Instruments GmbH

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D-10997 Berlin

Germany

www.native-instruments.de

USA

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5th Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90028 USA www.native-instruments.com

© Native Instruments GmbH, 2011. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1	Welcome to KONTAKT ................................................................................................			15
	1.1	What is KONTAKT? ......................................................................................................................		15
	1.2	The Documentation .....................................................................................................................		15
		1.2.1	About this Application Reference ...............................................................................	15
		1.2.2	Other Documentation .................................................................................................	15
2	Setup	........................................................................................................................		17
	2.1 ...............................................................................................................	Stand - alone Operation		17
	..............................................................................	2.1.1	Low Memory Warning on Start-Up	18
	...................................................................................................	2.1.2	Audio Configuration	18
	.................................................................................................	2.1.3	Latency Optimization	20
	....................................................................................................	2.1.4	MIDI Configuration	20
	2.2 .......................................................................................................................	Plug - in Operation		21
	..................................................................................	2.2.1	Changing Outputs in Pro Tools	22
	.....................................................................................	2.2.2	Changing Outputs in Logic 8	22
3	User Interface .............................................................................................Elements			23
	3.1 ....................................................................................................................................	Info Pane		23
	3.2 .........................................................................................................................................	Knobs		23
	3.3 .......................................................................................................................................	Buttons		25
	3.4 ......................................................................................................................	Drop - Down Menus		25
	3.5 ..................................................................................................................................	Scroll Bars		26
	3.6 ................................................................................................................................	Value Fields		27
	3.7 .......................................................................................................	Saving and Loading Presets		27
	3.8 ..................................................................................................................................	MIDI Learn		28
	........................................................................................	3.8.1	Assigning MIDI Controllers	28
	.....................................................................	3.8.2	Removing MIDI Controller Assignments	29
4 KONTAKT: .........................................................................................The Big Picture				30

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			Table of Contents
4.1	Building Blocks ..........................................................................................................................		30
	4.1.1	Core Building Blocks .................................................................................................	31
	4.1.2	Tools ..........................................................................................................................	32
5 The KONTAKT Window ...............................................................................................			34
5.1	Stand-alone Menu ......................................................................................................................		35
5.2	The Main Control Panel ...............................................................................................................		36
	5.2.1	User Interface Switches .............................................................................................	36
	5.2.2	Files Menu .................................................................................................................	37
5.3	Options Dialog ............................................................................................................................		44
	5.3.1	Interface Tab .............................................................................................................	45
	5.3.2	Engine Tab ................................................................................................................	46
	5.3.3	Handling Tab .............................................................................................................	48
	5.3.4	Load / Import Tab ......................................................................................................	50
	5.3.5	Database Tab ............................................................................................................	52
	5.3.6	Memory Tab ...............................................................................................................	53
5.4	Purge Menu ................................................................................................................................		56
5.5	System Performance Meters .......................................................................................................		58
5.6	Minimized View ...........................................................................................................................		58
6 The Rack Multi Instrument Mode) ...............................................................................			60
6.1	Multi Instrument Header .............................................................................................................		60
6.2	Instrument Header ......................................................................................................................		61
6.3	Instrument Header (Minimized) ..................................................................................................		64
6.4	Performance View .......................................................................................................................		64
7 The Rack Instrument Edit Mode) .................................................................................			66
7.1	Instrument Options Dialog ..........................................................................................................		70
	7.1.1	Instrument Tab ..........................................................................................................	71
	7.1.2	DFD Tab .....................................................................................................................	72
	7.1.3	Controller Tab ............................................................................................................	73

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				Table of Contents
		7.1.4	Infos Tab ...................................................................................................................	74
8 Loading and Creating Instruments ..............................................................................				76
9	Loading and Creating Instrument Banks ......................................................................			81
10	The On-Screen Keyboard ...........................................................................................			83
11	The Master Editor ......................................................................................................			84
12	The Browser ..............................................................................................................			86
	12.1	Files Tab .....................................................................................................................................		86
		12.1.1	Upper (Container) Pane ............................................................................................	87
		12.1.2	Middle (Objects) Pane ...............................................................................................	88
		12.1.3	Instrument Navigator Pane ........................................................................................	90
		12.1.4	Audition Strip ...........................................................................................................	91
		12.1.5	Refresh and Eject Buttons .........................................................................................	92
		12.1.6	The View Menu ...........................................................................................................	92
	12.2	Importing Non-Native Files Into KONTAKT ...................................................................................		94
		12.2.1	Direct Access to Foreign Formats ...............................................................................	94
		12.2.2	Batch Import .............................................................................................................	96
		12.2.3	Importing From Other Media ......................................................................................	97
		12.2.4	Format-Specific Notes ...............................................................................................	98
	12.3	Libraries Tab ..............................................................................................................................		99
		12.3.1	Loading and saving Instruments and Multis .............................................................	99
		12.3.2	Info and Function Menu .............................................................................................	100
		12.3.3	Add Library Button .....................................................................................................	100
		12.3.4	Library Activation ......................................................................................................	101
	12.4	Database Tab .............................................................................................................................		101
		12.4.1	Overview of the Database Browser ............................................................................	102
		12.4.2	Building the Database ...............................................................................................	104
		12.4.3	Searching by Attributes .............................................................................................	106
		12.4.4	Searching by Keywords ..............................................................................................	111

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		12.4.5	Configuring and Sorting the Results List ...................................................................	112
		12.4.6	Assigning Attributes ..................................................................................................	113
		12.4.7	Defining Your Own Attribute Sets ..............................................................................	118
	12.5	Monitor Tab ................................................................................................................................		121
	12.6	Modules Tab ...............................................................................................................................		125
	12.7	Automation Tab ..........................................................................................................................		127
		12.7.1	Assigning MIDI Controllers (alternative way) .............................................................	129
		12.7.2	Removing MIDI Controller Assignments .....................................................................	130
13	The Quick-Load Catalog .............................................................................................			131
	13.1	Building a Catalog .....................................................................................................................		133
	13.2	Loading Objects from the Catalog ..............................................................................................		134
14	The Outputs Section .................................................................................................			136
	14.1	Panel Controls ............................................................................................................................		137
	14.2	Working with Output Channels ...................................................................................................		137
	14.3	Working with Aux Channels ........................................................................................................		139
	14.4	Outputs in Host Mode .................................................................................................................		139
15	The Group Editor .......................................................................................................			141
	15.1	Control Header ............................................................................................................................		142
		15.1.1	Edit All Groups ...........................................................................................................	142
		15.1.2	Group Selector ...........................................................................................................	143
		15.1.3	Edit ............................................................................................................................	143
		15.1.4	Group Solo .................................................................................................................	145
		15.1.5	Select by MIDI ............................................................................................................	145
	15.2	Group List	...................................................................................................................................	145
	15.3	Voice Groups ...............................................................................................................................		147
	15.4	Group Start Options ....................................................................................................................		148
16	The Mapping Editor ...................................................................................................			151
	16.1	Mapping Samples Manually .......................................................................................................		152

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16.2	Mapping Samples Automatically ................................................................................................		154
16.3	Managing Zones .........................................................................................................................		156
	16.3.1	Editing Parameters in the Status Bar ........................................................................	157
	16.3.2	Editing Parameters Graphically .................................................................................	157
	16.3.3	Editing Parameters via MIDI ......................................................................................	158
16.4	Control Strip ...............................................................................................................................		158
16.5	Edit Menu	...................................................................................................................................	161
16.6	Batch Tools .................................................................................................................................		163
17 The Wave Editor ........................................................................................................			166
17.1	Tool Bar ......................................................................................................................................		168
17.2	Status Bar ..................................................................................................................................		171
17.3	Waveform View ...........................................................................................................................		173
17.4	Grid Panel	...................................................................................................................................	175
	17.4.1	Fix Mode ....................................................................................................................	176
	17.4.2	Auto Mode ..................................................................................................................	178
	17.4.3	Editing Slices Manually .............................................................................................	180
17.5	Sample Loop Tab ........................................................................................................................		181
17.6	Sync / Slice Tab ..........................................................................................................................		185
	17.6.1	Using the Beat Machine ............................................................................................	186
	17.6.2	Using the Time Machine ............................................................................................	187
	17.6.3	Mapping Slices Manually ...........................................................................................	188
	17.6.4	Mapping Slices Automatically ...................................................................................	189
17.7	Zone Envelopes ...........................................................................................................................		192
	17.7.1	Assigning and Selecting Envelopes ...........................................................................	192
	17.7.2	Adjusting Assignment Parameters ............................................................................	194
	17.7.3	Editing Envelopes ......................................................................................................	194
	17.7.4	Utility Functions ........................................................................................................	196
17.8	Sample Editor .............................................................................................................................		198

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				Table of Contents
		17.8.1	Edit Operations ..........................................................................................................	200
		17.8.2	Transform Operations ................................................................................................	201
18	The Script Editor .......................................................................................................			202
	18.1	Loading a Script .........................................................................................................................		203
	18.2	Saving Script Settings ................................................................................................................		204
	18.3	Editing and Saving a Script ........................................................................................................		204
19	The Source Module ...................................................................................................			206
	19.1	Sampler	......................................................................................................................................	206
	19.2	DFD .............................................................................................................................................		208
	19.3	Tone Machine .............................................................................................................................		209
	19.4	Time Machine .............................................................................................................................		211
	19.5	Time Machine .........................................................................................................................II		211
	19.6	Time Machine ......................................................................................................................Pro		212
	19.7	Beat Machine ............................................................................................................................		213
	19.8	S1200 Machine ...........................................................................................................................		215
	19.9	MP60 Machine ............................................................................................................................		215
20	The Amplifier Module ................................................................................................			216
21 Signal Processors ...................................................................................in KONTAKT				219
	21.1	Group Insert ....................................................................................................................Effects		221
	21.2	Bus Insert .......................................................................................................................Effects		222
	21.3	Instrument ............................................................................................................Insert Effects		223
	21.4	Instrument .............................................................................................................Send Effects		224
	21.5	Adding Modules ..........................................................................................................................		225
	21.6	Deleting ........................................................................................................................Modules		225
	21.7	Editing Module ........................................................................................................Parameters		225
	21.8	Common .................................................................................................................Parameters		226
	21.9	Signal Processors ...................................................................................in the Outputs Section		226
		21.9.1 .............................................................................................	Output Channel Inserts	227

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			Table of Contents
	21.9.2	Aux Channels .............................................................................................................	228
21.10	Types of Signal Processors .........................................................................................................		229
22 Effects	......................................................................................................................		230
22.1	AET Filter ....................................................................................................................................		230
	22.1.1	About Authentic Expression Technology .....................................................................	230
	22.1.2	Creating a Velocity Morph ..........................................................................................	232
	22.1.3	Creating an Articulation Morph .................................................................................	233
	22.1.4	Create AET Morph Layer Dialog ..................................................................................	236
	22.1.5	Morph Map Editor ......................................................................................................	237
	22.1.6	AET Filter Module Controls .........................................................................................	239
22.2	Compressor ................................................................................................................................		240
22.3	Solid Bus Comp ..........................................................................................................................		242
22.4	Limiter ........................................................................................................................................		243
22.5	Transient Master ........................................................................................................................		244
22.6	Tape Saturator ............................................................................................................................		244
22.7	Distortion ....................................................................................................................................		245
22.8	Lo-Fi ...........................................................................................................................................		245
22.9	Saturation	..................................................................................................................................	246
22.10	Cabinet .......................................................................................................................................		247
22.11	Skreamer ....................................................................................................................................		247
22.12	Twang .........................................................................................................................................		248
22.13	Rotator .......................................................................................................................................		249
22.14	Surround Panner .........................................................................................................................		249
	22.14.1	Explanation of channel abbreviations: .....................................................................	251
	22.14.2	Controls .....................................................................................................................	255
	22.14.3	Surround Panner Automation ....................................................................................	256
	22.14.4	Host/MIDI Automation ................................................................................................	256
	22.14.5	Internal Modulation ..................................................................................................	256

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			Table of Contents
22.15	Stereo Modeller ...........................................................................................................................		257
22.16	Delay ..........................................................................................................................................		258
22.17	Chorus ........................................................................................................................................		259
22.18	Flanger .......................................................................................................................................		259
22.19	Phaser ........................................................................................................................................		260
22.20	Convolution ................................................................................................................................		261
22.21	Reverb ........................................................................................................................................		263
22.22	Gainer .........................................................................................................................................		264
22.23	Inverter .......................................................................................................................................		265
22.24	Send Levels ................................................................................................................................		265
23 Filters	.......................................................................................................................		267
23.1 ...........................................................................................................................	Lowpass Filters		269
.......................................................................................................................	23.1.1	SV LP1	269
.......................................................................................................................	23.1.2	SV LP2	269
.......................................................................................................................	23.1.3	SV LP4	269
................................................................................................................	23.1.4	Ladder LP1	270
................................................................................................................	23.1.5	Ladder LP2	270
................................................................................................................	23.1.6	Ladder LP3	271
................................................................................................................	23.1.7	Ladder LP4	271
.......................................................................................................................	23.1.8	AR LP2	272
.......................................................................................................................	23.1.9	AR LP4	272
....................................................................................................................	23.1.10	AR LP2/4	272
...........................................................................................................................	23.1.11	Daft	273
......................................................................................................................	23.1.12	PRO-53	273
................................................................................................................	23.1.13	Legacy LP1	273
................................................................................................................	23.1.14	Legacy LP2	274
................................................................................................................	23.1.15	Legacy LP4	274
................................................................................................................	23.1.16	Legacy LP6	274

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			Table of Contents
	23.1.17	Legacy Ladder ...........................................................................................................	275
23.2	Highpass Filters .........................................................................................................................		275
	23.2.1	SV HP1 .......................................................................................................................	275
	23.2.2	SV HP2 .......................................................................................................................	276
	23.2.3	SV HP4 .......................................................................................................................	276
	23.2.4	Ladder HP1 ................................................................................................................	276
	23.2.5	Ladder HP2 ................................................................................................................	277
	23.2.6	Ladder HP3 ................................................................................................................	277
	23.2.7	Ladder HP4 ................................................................................................................	278
	23.2.8	AR HP2 ......................................................................................................................	278
	23.2.9	AR HP4 ......................................................................................................................	278
	23.2.10	AR HP2/4 ...................................................................................................................	279
	23.2.11	Daft HP ......................................................................................................................	279
	23.2.12	Legacy HP1 ................................................................................................................	280
	23.2.13	Legacy HP2 ................................................................................................................	280
	23.2.14	Legacy HP4 ................................................................................................................	280
23.3	Bandpass	...................................................................................................................................	281
	23.3.1	SV BP2 .......................................................................................................................	281
	23.3.2	SV BP4 .......................................................................................................................	281
	23.3.3	Ladder BP2 ................................................................................................................	281
	23.3.4	Ladder BP4 ................................................................................................................	282
	23.3.5	AR BP2 ......................................................................................................................	282
	23.3.6	AR BP4 ......................................................................................................................	283
	23.3.7	AR BP2/4 ...................................................................................................................	283
	23.3.8	Legacy BP2 ................................................................................................................	283
	23.3.9	Legacy BP4 ................................................................................................................	284
23.4	Peak/Notch .................................................................................................................................		284
	23.4.1	SV Notch ....................................................................................................................	284

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				Table of Contents
		23.4.2	Ladder Peak ...............................................................................................................	285
		23.4.3	Ladder Notch .............................................................................................................	285
		23.4.4	Legacy BR4 ................................................................................................................	286
	23.5	Multi ...........................................................................................................................................		286
		23.5.1	SV Par. LP/HP ............................................................................................................	286
		23.5.2	SV Par. BP/BP ............................................................................................................	287
		23.5.3	SV Ser. LP/HP .............................................................................................................	287
		23.5.4	3x2 Versatile .............................................................................................................	288
	23.6	Effect Filters ...............................................................................................................................		289
		23.6.1	Formant I ...................................................................................................................	290
		23.6.2	Formant II ..................................................................................................................	290
		23.6.3	Phaser .......................................................................................................................	291
		23.6.4	Vowel A ......................................................................................................................	291
		23.6.5	Vowel B ......................................................................................................................	292
	23.7	EQs .............................................................................................................................................		292
		23.7.1	Solid G-EQ .................................................................................................................	293
24	Modulation in KONTAKT .............................................................................................			295
	24.1	Modulation Sources ....................................................................................................................		295
	24.2	Modulation Destinations .............................................................................................................		296
	24.3	Creating Modulation Assignments ..............................................................................................		296
	24.4	Deleting Modulation Assignments ..............................................................................................		298
	24.5	Assignment Controls ..................................................................................................................		299
25	Modulation Sources ..................................................................................................			302
	25.1	Envelopes	...................................................................................................................................	302
		25.1.1	AHDSR Envelope Controls ..........................................................................................	302
		25.1.2	DBD Envelope Controls ..............................................................................................	303
		25.1.3	Flexible Envelopes .....................................................................................................	304
	25.2	LFOs ...........................................................................................................................................		306

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				Table of Contents
		25.2.1	LFO Controls ..............................................................................................................	307
	25.3	Other Modulators ........................................................................................................................		308
		25.3.1	32 - Step Modulator ....................................................................................................	309
		25.3.2	Envelope Follower ......................................................................................................	310
		25.3.3	Glide ..........................................................................................................................	310
	25.4	External Sources .........................................................................................................................		311
26	Keyboard Shortcuts ...................................................................................................			313
	26.1	Global Keys .................................................................................................................................		313
	26.2	Browser	......................................................................................................................................	314
	26.3	Instrument .................................................................................................................Edit Mode		314
	26.4	Group Editor ...............................................................................................................................		314
	26.5	Mapping ...........................................................................................................................Editor		314
	26.6	Wave Editor ................................................................................................................................		315
27	File Formats ..............................................................................................................			316
	Index	........................................................................................................................		322

KONTAKT 5 - Application Reference - 14

Welcome to KONTAKT

What is KONTAKT?

1Welcome to KONTAKT

We at Native Instruments would like to thank you for purchasing KONTAKT – it's because of customers like you that we can continue developing ground-breaking music software. We hope that this application reference will provide you with all the information you need to make use of KONTAKT's features to their full capacity.

1.1What is KONTAKT?

Simply put, KONTAKT is one of the leading sampling solutions in the audio industry. As such, it allows you to play back and process audio samples – but that doesn't even begin to convey the full range of its capabilities. With KONTAKT, you can create sophisticated sample-based virtual instruments, process their audio signals with powerful DSP structures, build complex performance setups with extensive modulation routings, and gain access to a huge number of third-party sample libraries. And it's easy, too – KONTAKT's user interface lets you fully concentrate on the sections that are relevant to the task at hand, while not getting tangled up in other technicalities.

1.2The Documentation

KONTAKT comes with a number of documentation resources, both in printed and electronic form. We won't suggest you should go ahead and read through all of them right now, but you might want to get an overview of what's there. That way, whenever you're stuck at some point, you'll know where to look for help.

1.2.1About this Application Reference

This Application Reference is the most important documentation resource. It provides thorough descriptions of all the user interface elements, options, tools, editors, and sound processing modules of KONTAKT. You can use it both as a reference manual and a thorough guide to working with the application.

1.2.2Other Documentation

We prepared a wealth of information about all aspects of KONTAKT, most of which you can find in the form of PDF documents within the KONTAKT installation directory on your hard drive. When you're using the stand-alone version of KONTAKT, you can access these

KONTAKT 5 - Application Reference - 15

Welcome to KONTAKT

The Documentation

documents via the Help menu at the top of the application window (Windows) or your desktop (Mac). Otherwise, just locate the installation directory on your workspace and open the files with a PDF reader of your choice.

In addition to this guide, KONTAKT comes with the following documents:

▪The Getting Started document will guide you through the basic steps of setting up KONTAKT and then get you acquainted with the fundamental aspects of its user interface. After reading it, you should be able to start KONTAKT both in stand-alone mode and as a plug-in in your sequencer, find, load and play sounds, and know your way around the user interface. Because of this, we recommend that you take the time to read this guide in its entirety.

▪The Library Manual lists and describes the contents of the extensive library of ready- to-play instruments that comes with KONTAKT. This can be found in the Kontakt Factory Library folder.

▪The KSP Reference Manual documents the built-in scripting language, which allows Instrument creators to embed scripts that can dynamically alter MIDI data and playback parameters in their patches. As such, it's targeted towards advanced users.

▪The KONTAKT Player Getting Started explains how you can load and use third-party sample Libraries that come bundled with the KONTAKT PLAYER with KONTAKT 5. This guide is only installed with KONTAKT PLAYER.

KONTAKT 5 - Application Reference - 16

Setup

Stand-alone Operation

2Setup

Once the installation process has finished, you should find the KONTAKT 5 installation directory on your hard drive. It contains the KONTAKT 5 application and the documentation resources as described in the previous chapter.

Before you start KONTAKT for the first time, it's worth explaining that it has two fundamentally different modes of operation. You have the choice of running KONTAKT as a normal application, in which case it will behave like any other program on your computer – we refer to this as the “stand-alone version” in the documentation – or, alternatively, you can use it as a virtual instrument plug-in within your sequencer or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) application. The most important difference between these modes concerns the way in which KONTAKT handles MIDI and audio streams. In stand-alone operation, KONTAKT will address your MIDI and audio hardware directly (which requires you to specify some details about your hardware and drivers), while in the case of using KONTAKT as a plugin, these will be taken care of by the sequencer host application. The following sections will explain both modes in more detail.

2.1Stand-alone Operation

When you launch the KONTAKT 5 application in the installation directory, KONTAKT will start as a stand-alone program that provides its own application menu, just like any other application on your computer. In this mode, KONTAKT will receive MIDI data from one or more ports of a MIDI interface and send audio signals directly to your audio interface. This can be very useful if you don't need the additional functionality of a full-blown sequencer environment for your task at hand, for instance when you're using KONTAKT as a live performance instrument or as a sampling host on a stand-alone computer. Also, when you're creating or editing complex sample libraries yourself, using the stand-alone version is often easier than opening KONTAKT in a sequencer.

When you start KONTAKT in stand-alone mode for the first time, both audio and MIDI will still be unconfigured. In order to make KONTAKT receive MIDI notes from your keyboard and play sound in response, you'll first have to tell it which hardware it should use. This is done via the Options dialog, which should appear automatically upon the first start.

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Setup

Stand-alone Operation

Options button

You can also open this dialog at any time by clicking on the Options button at the top of the main window. This is the central place for configuring all aspects of KONTAKT's user interface and its sample playback engine. In this chapter, we'll only describe the Audio and MIDI tabs at the bottom; you can find thorough explanations of the other options later in this manual.

2.1.1Low Memory Warning on Start-Up

Sometimes a memory warning is displayed when running several stand-alone instances of KONTAKT simultaneously. This “low memory” warning dialog appears when KONTAKT is running with no admin privileges or if a second instance of KONTAKT is started and is requesting RAM which the first instance has already reserved.

Hence, running several stand-alone instances of KONTAKT simultaneously is not recommended.

2.1.2Audio Configuration

On the Audio tab of the Options dialog, you can specify which audio device KONTAKT should use for playback and adjust global playback parameters.

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Setup

Stand-alone Operation

Audio tab of the Options dialog.

The dialog provides the following options:

Driver: With this drop-down menu, you can select which of your operating system's device driver architectures KONTAKT should use. Most professional audio devices provide ASIO, CoreAudio (Mac) or WASAPI (Windows) drivers.

Device: This menu lists all connected audio interfaces that match the driver architecture chosen above. Use this to select the audio interface that you'd like to use for playback. Sample rate: This drop-down menu allows you to set the global playback sample rate at which KONTAKT will operate. Common values are 44100 Hz for music and 48000 Hz for film production. Note that this doesn't have anything to do with the sampling rate at which your samples have been recorded – if the playback rate doesn't match a sample's recording rate, KONTAKT will handle all necessary conversion steps transparently for you. Latency: The size of the audio playback buffer in samples. Small values will shorten the delay between pressing a key and hearing the resulting sound (this is called “latency”), but may cause drop-outs and stuttering when playing a lot of voices at the same time. Conversely, setting this to a higher value will make playback more reliable at the cost of more latency.

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Setup

Stand-alone Operation

2.1.3Latency Optimization

The load that typical digital audio calculations generate on your processor is often not constant and predictable; parameter changes, additional voices or other processes can all cause momentary peaks in the load, which can result in drop-outs or other audio artifacts if not properly compensated for. That's why audio programs don't send the audio signals they generate directly to the hardware, but write them to a short buffer in memory instead, which is what is then sent to the actual hardware. This concept allows the program to bridge short irregularities in the stream calculation and thus be more resistant to processing peaks.

Of course, this “safety net” comes at a price – the buffering causes a delay, known as latency, between the triggering of a note and the actual sound. This delay gets longer with increasing buffer sizes. Hence, it's vital to tune the buffer size in order to find a good compromise between latency and playback reliability. The optimal value depends on such diverse factors as your CPU, memory and hard disk access times, your audio hardware and drivers, and your operating system environment.

In order to find the optimal buffer size for your system, we recommend that you begin by setting the Latency slider described in the previous section to a healthy middle value between 384 and 512 samples, then gradually decrease the value during your normal work.

Latency Slider

When you begin to notice drop-outs, increase the buffer again by a small amount. Generally, it's a good idea to have as few other applications as possible running in the background when working with audio software. Also, if you can't get below a certain buffer size without getting drop-outs, consult the documentation of your audio hardware to find out whether you can access it via an alternate driver architecture, as some architectures allow more efficient low-level access to the hardware than others.

2.1.4MIDI Configuration

The MIDI tab of the Options dialog provides a list of all MIDI inputs and outputs that have been found on your system. These are ports of physical MIDI interfaces connected to your computer, but also any virtual MIDI ports that may be provided by drivers or other applications to facilitate inter-application MIDI usage.

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Setup

Plug-in Operation

MIDI tab of the Options dialog.

In order to make KONTAKT respond to MIDI data from the outside, you'll have to enable one or more ports that appear in the inputs list of the MIDI tab. Make sure the Inputs button is highlighted and identify the port(s) that you intend to use for MIDI input in the list. If the Status field on the right side of an entry reads Off, click on that value and assign one of the MIDI port identifiers (A-D). This enables the respective port, which will later be identified by the selected letter throughout the user interface.

2.2Plug-in Operation

The plug-in version of KONTAKT allows you to use it as a virtual instrument inside your sequencer or DAW. That way, you can run multiple instances of KONTAKT side-by-side along with your other sound generators and effect plug-ins, trigger them with the data of MIDI tracks from within your sequencer, and directly feed their audio output into the signal flow of your virtual mixer.

Depending on your operating system and choices upon installation, KONTAKT provides VST, Audio Units (AU), and RTAS plug-in formats.

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Setup

Plug-in Operation

Refer to the documentation of your sequencer to find out which of these formats is the right one in your case; if you have enabled the appropriate format at installation time, KONTAKT 5 should appear in the plug-in selection list inside your sequencer. If it doesn't, re-run the installer from the KONTAKT DVD and make sure the appropriate plug-in is marked for installation.

Note that RTAS plug-ins are supported in Digidesign hosts only. For other hosts, check the documentation for which plug-in version to use.

The way in which virtual instrument plug-ins are integrated into the workflow very much depends on your sequencer; consult its documentation to find out how to instantiate and work with the KONTAKT plug-in.

2.2.1Changing Outputs in Pro Tools

1.After changing the output configuration in Pro Tools, you need to close the session running.

2.Unplug KONTAKT. Quit Pro Tools.

3.Restart Pro Tools.

4.Plug in a new instance of KONTAKT. Reopen your session.

When setting the new output configuration for KONTAKT make sure to select this configuration as default setting.

2.2.2Changing Outputs in Logic 8

Make sure KONTAKT’s output configuration matches the channel setup chosen in Logic 8. Otherwise signals might be routed to the wrong Aux channel.

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User Interface Elements

Info Pane

3User Interface Elements

During your work with KONTAKT, you will discover that most elements that let you interact with the program are being used consistently throughout the whole interface. The handling of these common elements is always the same, only the context in which they appear will vary. In this chapter, we'll explain the basic types of elements that you will encounter, and what you can do with them. Before we begin, though, there's a helpful function you should know about before all others, since it will reliably serve as a reference whenever you're not sure what a specific knob, menu or other interface element does: the Info Pane.

3.1Info Pane

The Info Pane is an area located at the bottom of your KONTAKT window, just above the bottom-most status bar. If you don't see it, click on the button labeled Info at the top of the window – this button toggles the visibility of the Info Pane.

The Info Pane, showing a description of the Browser button in the Main Control Panel.

On its right side, just below the large window section labeled Multi Rack, the Info Pane will display a short help text about whatever control your mouse is currently hovering over. If you don't know what a knob, button, menu entry, or in fact any other user interface element does, just hover your mouse over it while the Info Pane is visible and it will display a hint for you.

Setting the Language of the Info Pane

The Info Pane help is available in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. In addition, some other parts of the interface, such as the stand-alone menus, have also been localized. You can set your preferred language via the new Language dropdown list in the Options dialog’s Interface tab. You need to restart KONTAKT after selecting a new language. If you select Automatic, the language follows the language selection of your operating system.

3.2Knobs

Knobs are the most frequently used interface element for adjusting numeric parameters.

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User Interface Elements

Knobs

Bipolar knobs like this one have their zero (and default) setting at the top of their scale.

They're designed to resemble real rotary controls that you can find on mixing consoles and other equipment.

▪To change a knob value, click on it and drag your mouse upwards to move the knob clockwise, or downwards to move it counter-clockwise.

▪Some knobs can be adjusted more finely if you hold down the Shift key on your keyboard while moving the knob.

▪You can reset a knob to its default value by clicking on it while holding the ctrl key if you are on a Windows operating system, or the cmd key if you are on a Mac.

▪Many time-related parameters throughout the KONTAKT environment can be synchronized to your song tempo. Clicking on the unit that's being displayed in the respective control's numeric readout will open a drop-down menu, which contains a number of note values; selecting one of these, then dialing in the number of notes that you'd like to be spanned by one cycle, will synchronize the parameter to the current tempo. If you want to switch the parameter back to unsynchronized operation, just open the menu again and select its Default entry.

The tempo synchronization drop-down menu allows you to choose a note value instead of an absolute time value for the respective control.

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User Interface Elements

Buttons

▪To create a new modulation assignment, which uses a modulation signal source to change a parameter over time, right-click on the respective knob and choose a modulation source from the drop-down menu that appears. How KONTAKT's modulation system and the assignment of modulation sources work will be explained in detail in chapter ↑24, Modulation in KONTAKT of this manual.

▪Right-clicking on a knob can also allow you to set it to MIDI-Learn mode for quick assignment of a MIDI controller to the selected knob.

3.3Buttons

Buttons appear wherever a parameter can be switched on and off. Each click on a button toggles it between those two states. The current state of a button is being indicated by its background color; if a parameter is enabled, its button will be highlighted.

Active toggle buttons are highlighted.

3.4Drop-Down Menus

These menus allow you to choose from a list of values. They look similar to buttons, but with a small down arrow icon on their right side. Click on them to open the menu; it will stay open until you have either selected a new value or clicked somewhere else in the KONTAKT window, which leaves the previous value unchanged. Some menus have further sub-menus; these will be indicated with a small right arrow next to their name. Moving the selection bar to one of these items will open the respective sub-menu.

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User Interface Elements

Scroll Bars

The mode drop-down menu of the Source Module.

3.5Scroll Bars

Scroll bars appear at the bottom or right border of panes whose contents take up too much space to be displayed in their entirety. Clicking on the position indicator bar and dragging it will scroll the viewport across the content, while clicking on the empty space of a scrollbar will jump to the respective position. Some contents can also be zoomed in and out; this is indicated by “+” and “-” buttons at one end of their scrollbar. Click on “+” to zoom in, or “-” to zoom out. Some places in KONTAKT, namely the Mapping Editor and the Wave Editor, provide an alternative way of zooming that you might find more convenient; you can read all about this method, dubbed “rubber-band zooming”, in the chapters of the respective editors.

Horizontal and vertical scroll bars in the Wave Editor.

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User Interface Elements

Value Fields

3.6Value Fields

Some fields contain editable – usually numeric – values without an additional control. These frequently appear in places that don't provide enough space for knobs or other controls, such as rows of tables that can shrink or grow. There are various ways to edit their value:

▪Click on the field, then drag your mouse upwards to increase the value, or downwards to decrease the value.

▪When you hover your mouse pointer over the field, small up and down arrows will appear on its right side. Click on these to increase or decrease the value one step at a time.

▪Double-click on the field and enter a new value with the keyboard.

Value field

3.7Saving and Loading Presets

Whenever you have created a setting that you're really happy with in any part of KONTAKT, you might want to save it for later use in another context. The KONTAKT environment is split up into modules, and most of these offer a preset drop-down menu that allows you to manage presets for the respective module. Loading a preset in a module won't affect the other modules in your Instrument – this modular approach lets you freely combine different presets into your own Instruments.

Presets are saved in files (file extension: .nkp) which reside in a series of sub-folders within a “presets” folder. KONTAKT creates two of these preset folders on your system: one contains the factory presets, and is located in a directory which is not writable by normal users; the other one resides within your home directory and will be used to store your own presets. KONTAKT will create this user presets folder when you first start it up. On a Windows PC, the factory and user preset folders will be created in

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 5\presets

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\Native Instruments\Kontakt 5\presets

In the case of Windows Vista and Windows 7, the user presets folder will be located in

C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Native Instruments\Kontakt 5\presets

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User Interface Elements

MIDI Learn

On a Mac, you can find the factory and user preset folders in

Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Kontakt 5/presets Macintosh HD/Users/[username]/Documents/Native Instruments/Kontakt 5/presets

KONTAKT comes with a large number of ready-made presets for most of its modules. These are good starting points for your own settings, so it's worth browsing the Factory preset list of a module when you have a specific task in mind and don't know where to begin.

As mentioned, preset management in KONTAKT takes place within each module's preset drop-down menu. You can access this by clicking on the drop-down menu labeled Pre or Preset that is located on the left side of each module. It contains all preset files that were found in the respective preset folders on your hard disk, with further subdirectories (if any) appearing as sub-menus. The Save Preset entry at the bottom of the menu will open a dialog, which asks you for a filename. Enter a descriptive name and click on Save – from now on, your settings will be available within the User submenu of the presets drop-down menu. This won't work, however, if you change the path in the save dialog, so it's recommended that you always save your presets to the default path.

3.8MIDI Learn

KONTAKT features a MIDI Learn function for all sliders and knobs. Once you have assigned one of KONTAKT’s controls to a knob or fader on your MIDI controller device, you can conveniently access the corresponding parameter in KONTAKT.

3.8.1Assigning MIDI Controllers

To assign any of KONTAKT's sliders or knobs to a certain MIDI controller:

1.Right-click the knob or slider you want to assign a MIDI controller to.

2.Select Learn MIDI CC# Automation.

3.Turn the knob or move the slider on your MIDI hardware controller. The control should pick up the movement instantly. You can add additional MIDI controllers (CC#s) to the same KONTAKT knob. You can also assign multiple knobs or sliders to the same MIDI controller.

If you cannot assign MIDI controllers this way, see section ↑12.7, Automation Tab, for an alternative assignment method.

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User Interface Elements

MIDI Learn

3.8.2Removing MIDI Controller Assignments

To remove an assignment made to a specific controller:

1.In KONTAKT, right-click the knob or slider.

2.Select Remove MIDI Automation: CC#.

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KONTAKT: The Big Picture

Building Blocks

4KONTAKT: The Big Picture

KONTAKT is an extremely powerful, complex, and capable instrument. Before getting into specifics, let’s take a step back first and describe KONTAKT in general terms.

The structure of most samplers, hardware or software, is similar to that of a synthesizer: at its source, some kind of sound generator outputs unprocessed signals in response to incoming MIDI notes; these signals are then processed in a variety of ways and sent to the output. The difference is that the sound generator of a typical synthesizer creates its source waveforms entirely by electrical or mathematical means, often being limited to a range of well-defined waveforms, whereas a sampler can use any kind of previously recorded audio data – sampled acoustic instruments, sound effects, vocals, and (of course) any classic waveform known from synthesizers as well.

KONTAKT's overall structure is not any different in this regard, albeit it is far more sophisticated than a lot of conventional samplers. For instance, KONTAKT does not force any particular signal flow structure upon your Instruments – it has an entirely modular approach to sound processing and parameter modulation. Anything is possible, from triggering simple one-shot samples to building sophisticated virtual instruments that faithfully reproduce all aspects of their acoustic counterparts and respond intelligently to your performance.

As usual, this power comes at a price, though; while you'll be able to load and play your first KONTAKT Instruments right away, it will take some more practice to become a master at creating your own Instruments. We hope this manual will help you achieve this; also, whenever you're stuck, remember you can get helpful hints from the Info Pane described in section ↑3.1, Info Pane at any time.

4.1Building Blocks

The full functional range of KONTAKT's sampling environment is split up into smaller sections, which allows you to concentrate on the task currently at hand without getting distracted by other details. This functional division is also reflected on the user interface; most elements that belong to a specific kind of task are kept within a separate pane, tab, or dialog window.

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